Dudley's Plan
by The-Spotted-Owl
Summary: Dudley Dursley has a secret. He's a wizard. And now, at age 17, he has chosen to aid Harry in his fight against the Dark Lord. Will he be able to finally attend Hogwarts for his last chance of a proper magical education? Or will he be forced to take other measures? And is Dudley falling for a certain girl? I don't like writing and reading horror & gore, so only rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for clicking on my story :) I hope you enjoy it!**

**I do not own Harry Potter**

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A 17 year old Dudley Dursley woke up to the usual silence that filled the house at seven in the morning. It was July the 27th, the day that Dudley was dreading the most. It was the day that he would confess to his parents what he had been hiding for so long just to gain their acceptance. Yes, the great Dudley Dursley, school's most feared bully was scared. He was scared that he too would be locked in a cupboard all his life. He was scared that he too would live on tiny rations of vegetables and bread, while spending all his time locked up, pretending he didn't exist just so he wouldn't get beaten.

This was the life that Dudley Dursley had lived for the past 7 years. This was the life that he had promised himself would end on this very day. But he was scared. He was scared that his parents would disown him, send him away, or proceed to pretend that he didn't exist. But all of that no longer mattered. He had to make one of the hardest decisions in his life. From the moment he found out, he had always chosen Harry. Even if Dudley acted like Harry was scum, it was always Harry. So why should he have changed his mind now?

Even though he had made his decision, he was still scared. His secret was not the type of secret that his parents or even Harry would expect. He, Dudley Dursley, was a wizard. He had known since he was eleven years old when he received the letter. He knew that his parents would never forgive him for being a wizard, even if it wasn't his fault. In fact, they would probably never forgive themselves for letting it happen.

Dudley was particularly afraid of his mother, as she had always been disgusted at her sister's talent. She was disgusted at the way that her parents gave her sister all the attention. Lily Potter then went on to die a horrible death. But still, Petunia would not budge. But on the other hand, Dudley's father, Vernon, would agree with anything that Petunia said and perform cruel punishments to those who upset her.

So Dudley Dursley had decided to send a very angry, convincing letter back to Hogwarts claiming to be his mother, and stating that he would not be attending the school. And since Dudley was not as special as the great Harry Potter, they did not push him into going. Instead, he had spent the last 7 years teaching himself how to use a wand instead of going to Hogwarts. While Harry was away at school, he used to sneak into his room steal some of his wizarding books that either Vernon had confiscated, Harry had rarely left behind.

And so Dudley had become very good at memorising the spells and wand movements. Now all he needed was a wand. When Harry came home for the summer holidays, Vernon would often confiscate his wand whenever he could. Dudley was then able to take the wand and try out all the spells he could remember. Nobody ever found out apart from one person who happened to be watching from their second story window...

Mrs Figg was taking her washing into her bedroom to fold and put away, when she felt a breeze coming from her window. She decided to close it, so she walked over to the window and saw that in the house next to her was a 14 year old Dudley Dursley holding a wand and performing a spell. She quickly dropped all her washing and knocked on the Dursley's door.

"Hello, Mrs Figg" Vernon Dursley had answered.

"Vernon, hello, may I come in?" Mrs Figg asked.

"Of course" Vernon ushered her into the hallway.

"I was wondering if I could speak to Dudley-"

"Why do you want to speak to my son?" Vernon questioned her sternly.

"Because I may have found something of his that was left at my house from your last visit?"

"Three years ago?"

"Yes, well, I'm getting old..."

"Very well, Dudley is just upstairs now, first door on the right"

"Thank you, Vernon" and with that Mrs Figg walked upstairs and opened Dudley's door. She walked in to find a shocked Dudley who had frozen in his room holding Harry Potter's wand.

"I-I-I c-can expl-plain" Dudley stuttered. But it was too late.

"Sit down, boy" Mrs Figg motioned to Dudley's bed and everything was explained.

So Mrs Figg became the only person that knew Dudley's noble plan. His plan was to go to Hogwarts for the final year that he could, then hopefully aid Harry in his fight to destroy the Dark Lord by accompanying him and his friends once he had finished his studys. But there were two problems, however.

Firstly, his parents would either refuse to let him go or immediately disown him and leave him with Harry in hope that neither would return. The secondly, Harry was far too kind and would probably never let his cousin, whether he hated him or not, to put his life on the line for him. He was always reluctant to let people do that kind of thing for him.

Dudley's train of thought was interrupted by his growling stomach, begging him for a nice, hearty breakfast. Dudley got up, got dressed and walked downstairs. He had made the effort to lose weight and get fit for the quests that he hoped to take part in, so he was no longer the fat, pig-like bully who couldn't chase a kid further than 5 meters. He was now quite slim and could run/jog a few kilometres before collapsing on the ground.

Harry and his parents seemed to have been noticing the difference recently, but his loving mother and father thought nothing of it. They simply said that they were proud of their little 'duddykins' for getting in shape. Harry, on the other hand, was quite suspicious. He figured that there must have been a reason behind Dudley's sudden health frenzy. Dudley has especially surprised his family last year when he simply said 'no' to his normal cake for breakfast, instead putting himself down a piece of toast.

And that was exactly what he did that very morning. He had given up his four chocolate milkshakes a day and cut it down to one. That was when Harry began to question Dudley, but he just replied stating that he had a change of heart, and thought that he had best get healthy if he wanted to take up a sport, and they left it at that.

After Dudley finished his usual toast and marmalade with his milkshake, he walked upstairs ad spent the rest of the day packing. When evening came and they were sitting around the table for dinner (Dudley convinced his parents to leave the evacuation of the house until Harry left), Dudley cleared his throat and began his confession.

"Um, Mum, Dad and Harry" he began nervously. "I have something to say..." His parents and Harry looked up at him, signally for him to continue. "I have been keeping something for a long time. Ever since I was eleven I have had to hide this from you, in hope that you would still accept me. So when you find out, I hope that you still will. Harry" Dudley addressed Harry directly.

"I don't really hate you" he said as Harry became more and more confused. "It was an act right from when I was eleven, or younger even... I'm a wizard"

Harry, who had just been taking a sip of water, choked on it and spit it back into his cup. Petunia and Vernon were frozen with shock, eyes filled with thousands of emotions.

"I have decided to choose Harry" Dudley continued. "I want to help him, I always have wanted to help him, but I was afraid that you would never forgive me for it, Mum and Dad. I want to go to Hogwarts this year and hopefully join Harry at some stage to aid him in his fight".

"Dudley?" Harry's eyes were wide in shock, matching the expressions on both Petunia's and Vernon's faces. "But how..."

Dudley explained to them how he used Harry's things to train himself to one day help the wizarding world destroy Voldemort. He also told them how he hoped to follow Harry in his journey after his year of education at Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry" Dudley finished.

"Dudley, all this time... I thought..." Harry seemed lost for words. "Thank you" he said quietly.

"Dudley, you know we love you" his Mum said soothingly. "I will support you in your decisions, but this... it's far too dangerous"

"I'm only going to Hogwarts, Mum. I might not even get to fight"

"I don't know Dudley" Vernon said, shaking his head. "I guess we'd be alright with it if the wizard world wasn't in some sort of war with a madman running loose"

"I'll be ok, I can write to you everyday"

"But you haven't even got a letter" his mother continued to argue. "You can't be accepted into the school without a letter"

"I save my letter from when I was eleven. I've pack my bags and I'm ready to go. Mrs Figg is a squib and-"

"A what?" Vernon snapped.

"A normal person who has wizard parents. She contacted Minerva McGonagall and said that I can use the floo network, whatever that is. Please, let me go to Hogwarts"

Petunia and Vernon looked at each other in terror. They definitely did not expect their perfect son to be one of 'that lot'. But what had been done was done, and they couldn't change anything.

"When does this Gonnaball person turn up?" Vernon asked his son.

"She's coming in one hour whether I'm coming or not"

"I, I don't know Dudley. I..."

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**Cliff-hanger! Sorry, I know how annoying they are... I'll try not to let it happen again :)**

**But the next chapter should be out tomorrow or the next day. Please review and tell me what you think! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone :)**

**To answer one reader's question, Dudley was able to hide his secret because he is really smarter than he was acting in front of Harry, and he turned out to be quite brave after all. But more shall be revealed throughout the story.**

**Hopefully this chapter clears up some confusion.**

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_Petunia and Vernon looked at each other in terror. They definitely did not expect their perfect son to be one of 'that lot'. But what had been done was done, and they couldn't change anything._

"_When does this Gonnaball person turn up?" Vernon asked his son._

"_She's coming in one hour whether I'm coming or not"_

"_I, I don't know Dudley. I..."_

"I guess if that's what makes you happy" Vernon continued, "then you can go to that wizard school"

"Thank you!" Dudley breathed a sigh of relief as he went to hug his startled parents. "You don't know how much this means to me"

"And me" Harry added, standing up with his empty plate, which used to hold only one piece of broccoli and some rice. He put it on the bench and walked over to Dudley. "But Dudley, are you sure you know what you've signed up for? Hogwarts is no longer safe, I heard the death eaters have taken over-"

"I'll be fine" Dudley insisted. "I want to help, it's what I've always wanted" Harry grinned and held out his hand. Dudley shook it and smiled.

"I knew there was something going on when you gave up the cake" Harry joked.

The next hour went by too quickly for Vernon and Petunia. They didn't want to say goodbye to their only son. They didn't want to send him to a school run by death-crazy maniacs, but they could tell that Dudley would not step down until he got what he wanted. He never did. Vernon smiled as he remembered all of Dudley's finest tantrums. But the happiness didn't last long, as the realisation came flooding back in that his little Dudley would be leaving for a magic school and may not even come back... Vernon pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the positives. His Dudley had grown up to be a fine young man.

Petunia seemed to be thinking the same thing, except she showed it a lot more than her husband. Her eyes were streaming with tears as she kissed her Dudley goodbye. But their moment was interrupted by a gigantic 'WHOOSH!' coming from the living room. Dudley looked to his parents and nodded. It was time.

They all walked into the living room with Dudley's bags to find an old woman in long, black robes standing in front of their fireplace. Vernon looked at the woman in approval, as she had managed not to cause a fuss flying out of their fireplace. He grimaced as he though back to last time's disaster with the Weaselbys or whatever they were called.

"Hello" the old women said with a smile. "I am Professor McGonagall and I am here to collect your son on special request"

"Oh, hello there, Professor McGonagall" Vernon replied. Dudley was quite surprised that his father had managed to maintain a vaguely friendly face considering a complete stranger who was also a wizard had come flying out of their fireplace in wizarding robes. This normally would have sent Vernon through the roof.

Petunia wiped her eyes and hugged her son, Vernon doing the same straight after she had pulled away. "I just don't see why he has to leave us" Petunia said through sobs.

"Well, there is another way..." Professor McGonagall replied, her voice trailing off.

"What do you mean?" Petunia replied.

"Well, you could always come with your son-"

"Vernon, we're going to Hogwarts"

"However" McGonagall continued her interrupted sentence. "Due to the death eaters seizing control, you must be part staff in order to legally stay in the castle. But I warn you, the leaders are very harsh in the way that they treat the members of the staff"

"How so?" Vernon questioned.

"Well, I for example was ordered to guard the boundaries of Hogwarts overnight, but that was nothing compared to the others-"

"What do you have to do in order to receive these punishments?" Vernon continued.

"Disobey any orders or rebel against the Dark Lord, his death eaters who are his followers, or any authority that is on the Dark Lord's side"

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as Vernon and Petunia thought about their new offer.

"Or" Professor McGonagall began. "You could just stay in Hogsmeade, which is a little village just off Hogwarts. I'm sure that Aberforth would gladly take you in"

"Is the village safe?" Petunia asked.

"Well, there is tight security-"

"Well, that's great then!" Vernon boomed out.

"The guards however are Death Eaters" Professor McGonagall finished.

Vernon and Petunia thought hard about that. Harry stepped out from behind his big uncle.

"Hello, professor" he said.

"Harry!" Professor McGonagall looked surprised to see him there. "I thought you had left"

"I should be leaving in five minutes" Harry replied casually. He then turned to Dudley. "You don't have to do this, Dudley"

"I want to" Dudley replied sternly. "I have a plan, and I'm sticking with it no matter what"

"May I ask what your plan is, exactly?" Professor McGonagall questioned.

"To get a proper magical education, then if Harry and his friends aren't back by the last month of the school year, I'll go looking for them"

McGonagall look Dudley up and down. "You know, you aren't at all how Harry described you last year"

"I've changed" Dudley shrugged. Vernon suddenly cleared his throat rather loudly and began to speak;

"We have decided that we will stay with this Aberforth bloke while Dudley is at Hogwarts"

"Excellent" McGonagall replied. "I will let you get your luggage quickly while I send a patronus to Aberforth. But we must be leaving soon; we don't want to interfere with Harry's plans."

And with that Vernon and Petunia rushed into the other room and grabbed their bags. When they got back they found Dudley standing at the fireplace with his bags around one arm.

"All ready then?" Professor McGonagall asked. Everyone nodded. Dudley shook hands with Harry once more and stood in their fireplace. "Now" McGonagall said. She proceeded to explain floo powder and how it worked. When she was done, Dudley cautiously took a handful and spoke;

"Aberforth Dumbledore's house in Hogsmeade" he yelled before green flames erupted out of the fireplace. When the smoke cleared, Dudley was gone. Petunia and Vernon went next, nodding to Harry as they passed him, walking slowly towards the fireplace.

Meanwhile, Dudley felt like he had been compressed inside a spinning pipe that was moving at the speed of sound. He felt like he had been turned inside out, and hen squished up against a wall. Then, all of a sudden he came to an abrupt stop, finding himself flat on his stomach with his bags scattered across an old, wooden floor.

"Ah, so you must be Dudley." Dudley sat up and looked around to find an old man with an unusually long beard. He had grey hair and plenty of wrinkles. Probably as many as the amount of stars in the sky. "You had better move out of the way, I expect your parents will be arriving soon." Dudley did as he was told and shuffled out of the way, grabbing his bags as he crawled across the floor. He stood up just as a huge 'BANG!' sounded throughout the room. His mother had also flown out the fireplace face-first. Before his mother could get up, there was another 'BANG!' Dudley saw that his father had also come flying through, landing on top of his poor, fragile mother.

"Argh!" Petunia yelled out. "Get off me, Vernon!" Vernon quickly rolled off his wife and dusted himself off as he stood up. Once they were all standing and holding their bags, Aberforth directed Dudley's parents to their room upstairs. Dudley remained downstairs in the small room, wondering how he was going to get to Hogwarts from where he was right now.

Just then, a big 'WHOOSH!' came out of the fireplace. Professor McGonagall stood in front of the fireplace unscathed. She turned around and noticed Dudley standing there looking dumbfounded. How could she stand that feeling and gracefully appear out the other side?

"It takes practise" McGonagall explained, appearing to be reading Dudley's expression. Dudley just nodded.

"So what do I do now?" Dudley asked just as his parents and Aberforth returned to the main room. His parents gave him a huge hug and stood back, letting Aberforth take Dudley's shoulder and lead him to a portrait of a small girl. She seemed to smile at them, and to Dudley's surprise, she turned and walked away.

"Your paintings move?!" Vernon asked in shock.

"Yes" Aberforth simply replied, still not taking his eyes off the painting. After a short while the girl came back and the portrait gently swung open. Dudley looked into the tunnel that had just been revealed behind the painting and saw a boy about his age. He was covered in cuts and bruises and had particularly messy black hair.

"Hi, you must be Dudley" the boy said. "I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom. I'm in my seventh year too." Neville motioned for Dudley to follow him. "You can come back through here anytime and see your parents, so only take your clothes with you. Trust me, there isn't much room where we're staying."

Dudley took his clothes bag and waved to his parents. He stepped through the portrait hole and followed Neville down the long, dark and narrow tunnel.

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**Please review if you wish to :)**

**Thanks for reading everyone! **

**The next chapter may not be up until next week as I have a huge amount of schoolwork to do. But hopefully I can find time to write another chapter :)**


	3. Chapter 3 - Q&As with the Dursleys

I** was going to save all the answers for later chapters, but I can tell that in order for you guys to enjoy the story, you must know the answers to your questions, so...**

**Here they are :D**

**IMPORTANT: In this story some things are slightly different to the real books, such as the Death Eaters changing all these rules.**

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Vernon and Petunia were sitting in Aberforth's living room drinking tea in silence. Aberforth was rocking backwards and forwards in his rocking chair, awkwardly looking around. Vernon was the first to speak;

"So, uh, can we ever go visit the castle?"

"Yes" Aberforth answered. "The Death Eaters have lifted the charm that makes it invisible to muggles"

"Muggles?" Vernon asked.

"Non-magic people" Aberforth answered. Vernon just grunted and took another sip of his tea. Petunia was next to ask a question;

"How was my son allowed to perform magic with Harry Potter's wand? I thought the school had strict laws on that"

"Not anymore. The Death Eaters have changed everything."

"But doesn't 'the wand choose the wizard?'"

"Ah, so I see you have been paying attention... Well, yes it does. But anybody can use a wand (**A.N In the Deathly Hallows Harry uses Draco's wand), **however their magic will not be as great as it would be if they had their own wand."

"So how will Dudley learn magic then?"

"They have some spare, un-owned wands kept for emergency up in the castle, I'm sure they'll find one to suit your son."

"And what about other school things?" Vernon grunted out.

"As I said before, the school has changed. You really only need your wand, books aren't a priority anymore."

The Dursleys nodded and continued to sip their tea in the returned awkward silence...

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**Hope this has answered some of your questions! If it hasn't, just assume that it is different in my story. I'm not really a good realistic FanFic writer... **

**Please review! I like kind, constructive criticism :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi again everyone! I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a while! I've been a bit busy lately...**

**Thanks so much to all my reviewers, favouriters, followers. and readers! It means a lot to me that you guys took the time to read my story :)**

**I hope you enjoy!**

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After what felt like an eternity, Dudley and Neville emerged from the tunnel. What was on the other side, Dudley certainly did not expect. He turned around to find a gigantic room filled with hammocks and poles. There was what looked like hundreds of people, all stopping what they were doing to get a glimpse of the new-comer. The room was silent, which made Dudley feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Everyone" Neville spoke loudly. "This is Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin." There was a sudden outbreak of murmurs, which made Dudley wonder how much Harry had told people about his previous life. "Now, before everyone decides to shun Dudley, I would just like to say that every bad thing you have heard about Dudley Dursley was technically a lie." Neville motioned to Dudley for him to tell his story.

Dudley stepped forward, took a deep breath and began speaking. As he spoke, the students seemed to hang onto his every word. To his surprise, when he had finished, everyone began to clap. Neville smiled and signalled for Dudley to follow him. Everyone they walked past seemed to either nod in approval or give him a pat on the back. Dudley definitely wasn't used to feeling so heroic and appreciated.

"Here we are" Neville said as they came to a stop. "This is the hammock the room has chosen for you."

"What do you mean?" Dudley asked.

"This is the room of requirement. It can change into anything that you most desire. A hiding place, a cupboard, bathroom... you name it. As long as at least one person is in here, it can't be broken into. It keeps expanding to fit our needs, that's how we have so many hammocks."

"Harry said that you had dorms." Dudley said. "Why is everyone in here?"

"The death eaters have taken over the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff house dormitories, so we've taken refuge in here. The death eaters like the Slytherin house though, that's where most of their type came from. So they get to keep their dungeon."

Dudley nodded as he put his bags down below his hammock. "So when does school start?"

"Beginning of September. A new law has been passed that says everyone who is a wizard must be at Hogwarts before the end of this month. Anyone found elsewhere will face serious charges."

"That's terrible" Dudley frowned.

"Yeah, the death eaters don't have much sympathy. I heard that they're planning on wiping out the whole muggleborn population." Neville sighed.

"What's a muggleborn?"

"Muggles are non-wizards. So muggleborns are when your parents are muggles, but you're a wizard."

"Oh" Dudley said, sitting down on his bed. "Are we allowed out of here at any time?"

"Yes, but I don't think you'll want to." Neville looked grave, like he was remembering something terrible. "Well, I'd better leave you to it. If you need anything, just come to the centre, it's where we all meet every week for a meeting." Dudley nodded. "Oh, and the bathrooms are at the sides of the room, just keep walking that way until you see a door" Neville pointed behind them.

"Ok" Dudley smiled. "Thanks Neville."

"No problem" Neville smiled back before turning and walking away.

Dudley took the time to examine his surroundings properly. He looked up to find plenty of hammocks about three stories above the ground. Dudley was glad that he had one only half a meter off the ground. The room was quite quiet considering there were hundreds of students present. He began to wonder what house he would have been in if he attended the school when he was eleven. Dudley snapped out of his daze and was about to turn back to his suitcase when he suddenly froze, his eyes fixated on a student.

She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had long, shiny black hair and the prettiest brown eyes. She was sitting a few hammocks down in the row opposite him with her friends, who were all chatting away to each other. They didn't seem to be that happy though. Dudley could see the fear and sadness in their eyes, even if their faces denied it.

Suddenly, the girl turned around in Dudley's direction, her hair flowing around her shoulders, as if it was moving in slow motion. She locked eyes with Dudley and smiled at him. Dudley wished that moment could have lasted forever. But unfortunately, he was brought back down to reality as she turned back to her friends and continued to talk.

Much to Dudley's surprise, she stood up and began walking over to him. Dudley could feel his heart pounding as she approached him.

"Hello" she said smiling. "My name is Cho, Cho Chang."

"I'm Dudley, Dudley Dursley." Dudley replied as confidently as he could, shaking her hand.

"I know" she said giggling, her eyes twinkling like stars. "I heard you telling your story. You're really brave to take on such a dangerous task like this, especially under these circumstances."

"Thank you" Dudley replied. "But it isn't really that special. Nothing compared to what Harry is doing."

Cho giggled again. "You have his modesty. He never liked to admit that he was one of the bravest wizards of all time. Cedric was like that too..." Cho saw the curious look on Dudley's face and explained.

"Cedric was in a wizard's tournament called the tri-wizard tournament" she began. "On the last task, he and Harry both touched the cup, that would make them win, at the same time. It turned out that someone had turned the cup into a teleporting object called a portkey, so they teleported to a graveyard. As soon as they got there, the dark lord who is the leader of all of this ordered his assistant to fire a killing curse. It hit Cedric and Harry survived."

A tear fell from Cho's gleaming eyes.

"Did you know Harry and Cedric well?"

Cho paused for a moment. "I guess you could say that. Harry was the one who told me how it happened..."

Dudley could instantly tell that he had said the wrong thing. "I'm sorry." he said, trying to sound as sympathetic as he could.

"No, it's fine." Cho sighed. "I just don't like to talk about it." Cho looked down at her unusual-looking watch. "It's getting late, I think I'm going to head off to bed."

"Yeah" Dudley replied. "Me too."

"Nice meeting you Dudley." Cho turned and walked off. Dudley wanted to reply with something clever, but his mind felt too numb to do anything. He jumped up onto his hammock and closed his eyes, smiling to himself and he drifted off to sleep.

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**Thanks for reading! I'll try update soon :)**


	5. Chapter 5 - The first morning

**Here's the next chapter! It's twice as long as all the other ones, so I hope it's just as interesting :)**

**Please let me know if you think that the story is moving to fast, slow or if it's just right.**

**Enjoy!**

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Dudley woke up the next morning to a variety of delicious smells. He closed his eyes again hoping to get a few more minutes sleep, but his stomach protested. Sighing, he slowly got out of bed and began walking towards the centre the Neville had told him about last night. He assumed that would be where they ate.

"Hey, Dudley" a familiar voice said. Dudley turned around to find that Neville had just run up next to him. "Hungry?" Neville asked.

"Starving" Dudley replied as his stomach let out a huge growl.

"Good" Neville laughed, "because we always have more than enough food."

"How do you get food if you never leave this room?" Dudley questioned.

"The house elves bring it up to us."

"House elves..."

"They're elves that enjoy working for wizards. Hogwarts have house elves working in the kitchens. They are the only beings that can teleport within the castle, which allows them to bring us food."

Wow, Dudley thought. It would take him a while to get used to all of this. Magic rooms, elves, teleporting, evil wizards... it was almost too much for Dudley to have to take in. Dudley's train of thoughts came to a sudden stop as they reached the centre of the room.

"Whoa" he gasped. It looked magnificent, a huge change from the rotten wood and dirty floors they had been walking amongst just before. It was almost as if it were a different room altogether.

The floors were made of shiny wooden planks that looked like they had just been polished and swept. There were two long wooden tables covered by a clean white table cloth and dressed with little candles and flowers. Above it hung a big, beautiful silver and white chandelier which appeared to just be floating in mid air. Students were already digging into the amazing breakfast; some of them were still in their pyjamas, while others were dressed in clothing of their own choice.

"Does this school have a uniform?" Dudley asked Neville as they walked around, trying to find a spare seat.

"Yes, but we only wear it when we're not in this room" Neville replied.

"Have you been out this month?"

"Yeah" Neville grimaced, "a few times. They called an assembly in the great hall not too long ago, which was awful. They called on muggleborns and humiliated them in front of everyone."

Dudley felt his fists clenching. He couldn't believe how stupid those death eaters were.

"And I snuck out at night once" Neville continued. "I tried to go and steal some documents from our headmaster, called Professor Snape's office."

"What kind of documents were you trying to take?" Dudley asked as they sat down and began filling up their plates.

"Student records. Apparently the death eaters can locate any student under 17 with the trace now, and they put their location on the student records. I wanted to find out where my friend Luna was, since she wrote to me and told me she'd be here a few weeks ago. She hasn't arrived yet. I think she mentioned something about a wedding and going into hiding, but I wasn't really sure."

"Did you manage to get the records?" Dudley asked, eager to find out what happened next.

"No" Neville said, his expression turning grave. "They found me."

"They?"

"Alecto and Amycus Carrow, they're brother and sister. They've pretty much become the school's torture duo, since they love to punish us."

Dudley silently prayed that he would never meet them in his time at Hogwarts.

"They caught me just outside Snape's office. I tried to fend them off, but they were stronger. They punched me to get me to stop fighting them off, and then-" Neville's voice began to crack. "They performed the cruciatus curse on me for ten seconds."

Dudley didn't want to push it and ask what the curse did, but Neville continued;

"The cruciatus curse is a forbidden curse. It tortures the victim, gives them unbelievable pain. My parents suffered that same curse when I was little, it drove them to insanity. Now they barely remember who I am." Neville finished as a single tear fell from his face.

"I'm so sorry" Dudley said. He couldn't imagine how painful that would be. To lose your friend, almost your parents... it sounded just like Harry. Dudley realised just how much he would have to go through to help Harry, but he kept telling himself it would be worth it.

They ate in silence for the next ten minutes, before Dudley saw someone come and sit next to him.

"Hello Dudley." It was Cho, who was now serving herself some toast and bacon.

"Hi Cho" Dudley said, his face suddenly become brighter.

"How are you?" She asked, before taking a large mouthful of food.

"Fine, thanks" Dudley replied sounding rushed. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm alright" she sighed. Dudley knew that she wasn't alright, but what was he supposed to say?

"Um, uh, I-", he began to stutter. Cho looked up at him, as if she was expecting him to say something. Dudley looked to Neville, who was grinning in amusement as Dudley struggled to find words. "Are you sure you're ok?" He managed, giving her a big smile. She laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure" she replied. As Dudley closed his mouth he realised that he had bacon in his teeth. Very classy Dudley, he thought to himself.

"So, what house do you live in?" He said rather quickly, before realising that he had worded that completely wrong. "Uh, I meant what house are you in. Because, that would be weird if I..."

"I'm in Ravenclaw" she said, giggling again. Dudley turned back around to face Neville, whose face had gone red in an attempt not to burst out laughing. Cho looked down the table and stood up with her plate. "I'm really sorry Dudley, I would love to stay and talk, but I promised my friend I'd sit with her today. She's just received the news that her mother has fallen ill."

"No, that's fine." Dudley said casually. It was probably the only thing that he had said to her today that didn't make him sound terrified.

"Bye" Cho said, waving to him before walking off.

"Wow" Neville smirked. Dudley turned around and gave him a joking glare.

"What?" He said, returning to his food like nothing ever happened.

"Cho Chang, huh? I should warn you that she lost one of her boyfriends a few years ago. She doesn't seem to be over it yet."

"Really? Wait, was that-"

"Cedric Diggory. Died in the-"

"Tri-wizard tournament" Dudley finished. Neville nodded sadly.

"Yeah" he answered.

Dudley felt that he now knew too much. If Cho didn't tell him then she probably didn't want him to know. He planned to keep it a secret that he did find out.

"Well" Neville began, standing up. "I'm going off to shower, then I wondered if you wanted to go see Aberforth and your parents?"

Neville stood up immediately. "Yeah!" He said enthusiastically. He was missing his parents already.

"Ok" Neville replied. "There are heaps of clocks scattered around the place, so you should be able to find one from where you sleep. Want to meet me here in about an hour? It's only seven in the morning, and Aberforth likes to sleep in."

Dudley nodded in agreement and walked off.

When he got to his bed he realised that he had slept in his clothes from the day before, and they smelt bad, which brought him to wonder if they had any washing machines... He planned to ask Neville all his questions at lunch, because right then, all he felt like doing was taking a nice, warm, relaxing shower.

When Dudley got back to the centre, he found that the tables were gone, and what filled the space instead were lots of comfy couches, chairs, a few small tables and a big fireplace.

"Ready?" Neville asked.

"Yes" Dudley replied, eager to see his parents again. He wasn't used to being away from them for so long, as they never let their 'little duddykins' go off on his own for more than three hours when he wasn't at school. They walked all the way to the edge of the room to find another empty portrait.

"Ariana?" Neville called out. He and Dudley waited for the girl who was in the painting in Aberforth's house to make her way over to the portrait that they were staring at. Ariana smiled at the pair and the portrait swung open, revealing the long, narrow tunnel that they had just walked down the day before.

The walk down the tunnel didn't seem as long as the other one, but that was probably because Dudley now had a lot on his mind. When they finally reached the end, the portrait blocking their way swung open and they jumped down into Aberforth's living room.

"Dudders!" Dudley's mother exclaimed, getting up off one of the chairs in the living room and pulling Dudley into a tight embrace.

"Hi mum" he replied, his voice muffled. When his mother let go, he turned to give his father a hug, which was a lot less suffocating, even if his father was about four times his mother's size.

He and Neville took a seat by Aberforth, who was on his old rocking chair drinking tea. "Nice to see you again Neville" his old voice grumbled out. He cleared his throat, put down his tea and waited for somebody else to continue the conversation.

"So" Neville began. "Have you got any news on Harry and the Weasleys?"

"Yes" Aberforth replied. "They are safely at the Burrow. However, I sense that their safety had a great cost."

"You mean-" Neville began, before being interrupted by Aberforth.

"I am not entirely sure, but the sorrow in their faces led me to guess that somebody was lost that night."

There was silence in the room.

"In three days", he continued, "Harry Potter will turn seventeen, and the protection his parents gave him will be broken. He will be more vulnerable than ever. Once the dark lord realises that Harry is missing, he may target the people he was close to."

Dudley spoke up, "you don't think..."

"Yes" Aberforth answered. "You may be a target. That is why I think it would have been wiser for you and your family to go into hiding instead of exposing yourself to the wizarding world."

"But my family will be safe, won't they?" Dudley asked.

"Oh yes, they will be safe with me, as long as they are not found out. As for you... As long as you're at Hogwarts, they know where to find you."

"But we're hidden in the room of requirement, aren't we?"

"Not for long. Soon school will start and you'll be moving around the castle."

"I won't give into them" Dudley said. He surprised himself with how confident he sounded. To tell the truth, he did have his doubts. After all, the greatest wizards of all time had fallen because of the dark lord, hadn't they? What chance did a seventeen year old boy with very little experience have against one of the most powerful wizards alive? But then again, Harry was planning to set off and make the dark lord weaker, wasn't he? Dudley shook those thoughts out of his head and went back to concentrating on the present.

"So Aberforth?" Dudley began. "How did you know what Harry was up to?"

"With that" Aberforth said, pointing to a small mirror next to the portrait of Ariana. "Go and take a look" he said. Dudley did as he was told and got up to go and have a look. He stared at the mirror, seeing nothing but himself, but slowly a new image started to form in the glass...

Dudley let out a yelp and jumped back. He could have sworn that he saw a moving nose in it. He looked back into the mirror and saw an eye, which widened as Dudley got closer. The image began to spin around, like he was falling. When it came to a stop, he saw a book titled 'how to keep your broomstick in top condition'.

"How... But..."Dudley was lost for words. He was confused and amazed at the small shard of glass.

"It's a two way mirror" Aberforth explained. "I have one piece and Harry has the other. I don't think he has yet realised that what he keeps seeing is us, but I'd like to keep it that way for a while. I use it to keep an eye on him, in case anything happens and they are in need of assistance."

Dudley nodded slowly and sat back down into the old and tattered armchair. Dudley quickly guessed that what was to come would be even more mind blowing than what he had just seen in the past two days...

* * *

**Remember, please let me know if this story is moving too fast, too slow or just right :)**

**Thanks for reading! I hope to get the next chapter up in the next few days :)**

**Feel free to review if you want to! All comments are appreciated :)**


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